Bonnaroo 2023: 21 Artists We Can't Wait to See (2024)

Bonnaroo's Best

• Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway

  

  Thursday at Bonnaroo is like orientation on your first day of college and you can often be overwhelmed by all the sights, sounds, and, this being Roo, smells. Let Molly Tuttle’s set at 5 p.m. center you. The bluegrass picker (and Grammy winner) is gearing up for the release of her new album with band Golden Highway, City of Gold, and she’s sure to preview that project — alongside delivering some of the most ferocious guitar playing of the entire festival. Thursday, 5 p.m., That Tent

• Paramore

  

  Back on the road for their first tour in four years, Paramore are fully in the zone. The band’s live shows are euphoric blasts of kinetic energy, with Hayley Williams proving herself to be one of the most engaging and charismatic performers in any genre today. Expect a tight festival set that features many of the hits (“Misery Business”!) and songs off their superb new album, This Is Why Sunday. Watching Williams perform the title track live is transcendent. Foo Fighters, who close Bonnaroo on the same stage, will have a tough act to follow. 7:15 p.m., What Stage

• Big Freedia

  

  Do you feel like shaking your ass? If you answered “no,” then feel free to skip to the next entry. If you answered anything else, let New Orleans bounce royalty Big Freedia be your guide to a land where jiggle is the language. Freedia shows are hot, sweaty, and sticky affairs, with subwoofer-rattling bass that you’ll feel in your bones and dancers who can twerk in manic intervals that surpass the rest of us mere mortals. Do you dare try to keep up? As Freedia once famously said, she did not come to play with you hoes. Thursday-Friday, 1:45 a.m., That Tent

• Charley Crockett

  

  Finally, Charley Crockett is having his moment. On the strength of his tremendous The Man From Waco album, the Texas singer-songwriter will summon desert vibes for Bonnaroo (which typically provides its own dust). For those who haven’t seen him yet, look for crowd singalongs on old-timey country fare that Crockett mixes with his own life experiences. While Crockett is playing a tent this year, a spot on the Which or What stages seems imminent. Friday, 6:30 p.m., That Tent

• Pixies

  

  Pixies shows aren’t mere nostalgia affairs for aging indie kids. Sure, it’s great to sing along to “Here Comes Your Man,” but this is a band that positively rips and slashes when they go onstage. Now featuring bassist Paz Lenchantin in Kim Deal’s space, the group still has rock’s best screamer (sorry, Dave Grohl) in frontman Black Francis. Recent shows have seen them performing a mix of old favorites like “Vamos” and “Monkey Gone to Heaven,” along with choice selections from 2022’s Doggerel. Sunday, 8:15 p.m., That Tent

• Cimafunk

  

  Cuban performer Cimafunk’s mix of grooves from the U.S. and Latin America is made for movement. Last year, he wowed the crowds at Austin City Limits and Glastonbury with sets that were like one big dance party, owing to his growing confidence on the stage. At Bonnaroo, he may even have some new music to test out: “I’m working on a lot of new things right now and it’s focused on the groove I’ve been finding whenever I’m onstage,” he told Rolling Stone last year. “It has a lot to do with the response to being in front of an audience, which has been playing a role in the arrangements and the rhythms.” Thursday, 10:15 p.m., This Tent

• Rina Sawayama

  

  It says quite a lot that Rina Sawayama’s videos for “XS” and “Bad Friend” were at least partially responsible for landing her a role in the fourth installment of the sublime Keanu Reeves action franchise John Wick. For starters, the Japanese-British songwriter’s got oodles of style and vision, the kind that extend to her shapeshifting expression of pop music and its lack of regard for arbitrary rules. Her 2020 album Sawayama had flashes of nü-metal along with R&B and dance music. 2022’s Hold the Girl even ventured into country-pop with “This Hell.” If you’re looking for the unexpected, this is where you’ll find it. Friday, 5:45 p.m., Which Stage

• Sampa the Great

  

  The Botswana-raised singer-rapper Sampa the Great, who’s based in Australia these days, has been on the verge of worldwide recognition for some time now. A fixture of her work is her supreme confidence as a rapper, breathlessly flowing through intricate, dense bars that turn and pivot in unexpected ways. Most recently, she released the 2022 album As Above, So Below, which saw her incorporating a host of Afro-diasporic sounds into her grooves and bringing in guests like Denzel Curry, Joey Badass, and Angélique Kidjo to augment her rhymes. Friday, 1:45 p.m., This Tent

• Kip Moore

  

  It’s always interesting to see which country artists Bonnaroo books each year. Morgan Wade is a highlight. So is the upstart JD Clayton. But we’re most intrigued by what Kip Moore, a just-shy-of-mainstream Nashville star, will bring to the table with his Sunday afternoon set. Moore’s latest album, Damn Love, is heavy on synths and Eighties production, and songs like “Heart on Fire” and “Silver and Gold” should sound great on the Farm. Fingers crossed that fans get to hear “The Guitar Slinger,” Moore’s “Turn the Page”-like opus about the touring life. Sunday, 1 p.m., Which Stage

• Odesza

  

  People scratched their heads at Odesza’s name in big print on Bonnaroo’s Saturday night lineup, but the electronic duo of Harrison Mills and Clayton Knight from Washington state have a keen understanding that big-stage shows are about the spectacle. In past live performances, Odesza have brought out an entire drumline to keep time as well as an array of special guest vocalists and tour-only remixes of their songs. And, because it’s a spectacle, there’s guaranteed to be a mind-expanding light show that will dazzle even the soberest members of the crowd. Saturday, 11 p.m., What Stage

• Sofi Tukker

  

  The dance duo Sofi Tukker, made up of Americans Sophie Hawley-Weld and Tucker Halpern, have a knack for crafting pleasurable electro earworms, some of which they sing in Portugeuse. You’ve heard some of them: “Best Friend” was used in a 2017 Apple ad campaign, “Good Time Girl” was prominently used in HBO’s The New Pope, and “Summer in New York” played during television broadcasts of the U.S. Open tennis tournament. They’re silly, fun, and neon-splattered — in other words, perfect for Bonnaroo. Who knows, you might even be lucky enough to hear them drop the White Lotus theme music into the set at some point. Saturday, 7:45 p.m., Which Stage

• Lil Nas X

  

  EDM titans and Bonnaroo veterans Odesza technically headline Saturday, but Lil Nas X’s ‘Roo debut is the main event. A paragon of a post-genre generation, the charming and poised young man born Montero Hill dropped an instant classic in “Old Town Road” in the halcyon days of ’19, but the song, its myriad remixes and re-imaginings, and the cult of personality around the Atlanta-area native, all blossomed during lockdown. It’s anyone’s guess how Lil Nas plans to fill an hour-plus headlining festival set, much less where he goes next (A feature film? A clothing line?), but zeitgeist-capturing material like the title track off 2021’s Montero and the Jack Harlow-assisted “Industry Baby” made clear he’s here to stay. Saturday, 11:45 p.m., What Stage

• Thee Sacred Souls

  

  No one does soul quite like Daptone Records, and yet Thee Sacred Souls’ self-titled 2022 full-length debut was still a revelation. Far from the greasy funk of the label’s late, great Sharon Jones, the San Diego group’s vocal sound tends toward lighter and sunnier, mixing just the right amount of Memphis grit with Philly sweetness to come up with something that’s full of emotion and heavenly for the ears. With a cooking rhythm section underpinning things, it feels retro in all the right ways, but made for a modern world. Saturday, 1 p.m., This Tent

• MK

  

  Veteran house music DJ and producer Marc Kinchen, known simply as MK, has been responsible for some of the most indelible dance tracks of the last three decades, including 1993’s eternal “Love Changes” and a killer 2010 remix of Storm Queen’s “Look Right Through.” Lately he’s partnered up with Calvin Harris for a recurring Ibiza residency at Ushiuaia — in fact, there aren’t a ton of North American dates left on his itinerary for the year, and certainly none anywhere else in the South. Come prepared to hear some deep house grooves while your limbs and soul unwind. Sunday, 5:30 p.m., The Other Stage

• My Morning Jacket

  

  My Morning Jacket are worth seeing live anytime, but the Kentuckians’ expansive, searching sound is tailor-made for gigs like these; the band’s set this weekend coincides with the release of a concert film and accompanying LP around its performance at Bonnaroo back in 2004. With Jim James & Co. playing opposite the aforementioned Odesza Saturday, night owls will have their choice between slow-burning psychedelia and endless crescendos — analog, or digital thrills. Saturday-Sunday, 12:30 a.m., Which Stage

• Kendrick Lamar

  

  Where Kendrick Lamar’s epic Bonnaroo 2016 set served as both victory lap for the Compton rap savant’s double-platinum breakthrough Good Kid, M.A.A.D. City and showcase of his then-new To Pimp a Butterfly double LP, this falls between last year’s left-of-center Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers and whatever comes next, which, hopefully — if his established pattern of alternating accessible and challenging releases holds true — means a new song or two Friday from Lamar. (Side note: The rapper’s birthday is Saturday, so he’ll turn 36 midway through his 11 p.m.-to-12:30 a.m. set.) Friday, 11 p.m., What Stage

• Three 6 Mafia

  

  To those who know them, Three 6 Mafia are a Memphis institution on par with B.B. King and BBQ. Back together and touring for the first time since the late Aughts, core members DJ Paul and Juicy J and their trademark crunk-noir sound may not radiate positivity, but promise to draw a turned-up crowd. Friday, 7:45 p.m., Which Stage

• Muna

  

  From the Stooges to Wilco and Jimmy Eat World, rock’s annals are filled with talented bands dropped too soon by major labels. L.A. synth-pop up-and-comers Muna might belong on that list. Dropped by RCA after their first two LPs didn’t catch on, the trio found a home for their eponymous third on Phoebe Bridgers’ Dead Oceans offshoot Saddest Factory Records. Bridgers’ vocal turn on lead single “Silk Chiffon” might’ve helped it gain some traction, but the whole record is just as catchy and buoyant. Bonnaroo’s a marathon, not a sprint, but Muna’s Friday afternoon timeslot is worth braving the heat for. Friday, 4:45 p.m., What Stage

• Korn

  

  Beyond Korn main man Jonathan Davis coming off like a remarkably chill, even-keeled dude, another hindsight 20/20 takeaway from last summer’s Netflix three-parter on Woodstock ’99 was the footage of the California nü-metalers’ crushing opening-night set that fateful weekend in Rome, New York, before the calm was lost. Time’s been kind to the boys from Bakersfield, whose music’s relentless, oft-overwhelming angst might’ve seemed de rigueur before, but feels arguably more appropriate and immediate now than it did then. They’ll close out Saturday at This Tent. Saturday-Sunday, 12:30 a.m., This Tent

• The Revivalists

  

  There’s a reason the Revivalists are hitting all the major festivals this summer: Onstage, the New Orleans-based band deliver an uplifting mix of roots-rock and alternative sounds that’s tailor-made for huge crowds. Expect “Good Old Days,” off the group’s brand-new album Pour It Out into the Night, to be a cathartic set highpoint. Sunday, 5:15 p.m., What Stage

• The Beths

  

  The pandemic hit bands hard everywhere, except seemingly in New Zealand. There, The Beths never lost momentum following their smashing 2018 debut Future Me Hates Me, continuing to write and play shows while peers across the oceans could only daydream about such things. Now on LP Number 3 withlast year’s Expert in a Dying Field,the noise-pop foursome led by singer, songwriter and namesake Elizabeth Stokes continues to bat 1000, with the material’s energy and optimism amplified in the live setting. Though the festival saddled The Beths with an unenviable 1:30 p.m. timeslot, guitarists who’ve read this far are strongly encouraged to check out Jonathan Pearce’s daily master-class in fierce, overdriven guitar work, delivered in effortless, nonchalant fashion recalling Billy Zoom’s leads and solos in X. Saturday, 1:30 p.m., That Tent